Entechtaiwan heeft een nieuwe beta van PowerStrip gereleased met Savage 2000 support en een zooi bugfixes. PowerStrip 2.55.0A Beta kun je hier neerhalen.

The latest PowerStrip 2.55.0A beta, includes full support for the Savage2K-based Diamond Viper II. Additionally, desktop and overlay gamma correction for Intel chips is now available under NT4 and W2K as well as Win9x, Windows 2000 compatibility is improved all-around, and custom resolutions can be created with the Matrox G200/G400 and TNT/TNT2/GeForce (under Win9x only and provided you are using the latest drivers). This is, in fact, the only PowerStrip build that should be used with a Savage2K or GeForce. In addition to other things, vsync under Win9x can now also be enabled or disabled on the command-line: e.g., pstrip.exe /agp:2x /clk 166 140 /v- x tells the PowerStrip to enable AGP 2x transfers, set the memory clock to 166MHz, set the core clock to 140MHz, turn vsync off, and exit. With a little creative use of ordinary Windows shortcuts, the possibilities are, well, you get the idea.

Bij Sharky Extreme is een review te lezen van de Elsa Erazor X GeForce kaart. Qua overclocking strandde de review op 150/181MHz. Hieronder wat info over de performance en image quality van de kaart:

In addition to the benchmarks above where the Erazor X performed wonderfully, we played around with several games to see how its real world use was. Unreal Tournament was excellent, though it does seem to play better with a 3dfx card. Quake III Arena was never better and played with wonderful smoothness, even with the highest quality textures turned on. While we usually benchmark Quake III Arena, we were unable to disable v-sync in OpenGL with the Erazor X, but we can say that you should no trouble hitting 60fps in Quake III Arena in high-quality mode on a Pentium III 500. If we can resolve the v-sync issues, we'll post OpenGL benchmarks. 3D image quality was excellent, exactly what we have grown to expect from NVIDIA. 2D performance was also top-notch with a bright and clear image that would do any card proud.

Ome Tom heeft zijn Kerstavond verzegeld met het online zetten van een review van de S3 Diamond Viper II gebaseerd op de Savage 2000 chipset. Tom vermoedt dat het kaartje best wel wat kracht in huis heeft, maar door de brakke drivers en D3D support hangt de performance ver onder GeForce niveau.

At this point in time, I can't give my blessing on purchasing a Viper II with so many other great cards out there. The Viper II is promising T&L and nice fill-rate performance but as we've seen already, the drivers are really holding it back. Does this mean the hardware isn't good? My answer is 'No' in terms of fill rate performance, 'possibly yes' if you are asking for T&L though. It does mean that the end product is going to come up short. We should not forget that it's easy to promise that 'future drivers will support' a feature. Once the customer has bought the product the manufacturer made its money. The extremely long delay of a decent OpenGL-ICD for Matrox' G200 should not be forgotten. Some people had to wait for almost a year. Do you want to wait a year until S3-Diamond will release drivers that enable T&L? I really hope S3 can get things pulled together for the Viper II card because it really does have the potential to be a contender. With refined drivers, the Viper II could possibly put some serious heat on the SDR GeForce. At $199 (USD), the Viper II is set at a decent price but doesn't currently offer enough for me to not justify spending a few more dollars to get an SDR GeForce. In a month or two this could change but until then, I'll stick with the reliable competition.

The Holy Jampot schrijft: "Ik vind het zelf een beetje een nutteloze update, dat konden ze ook wel erbij maken als ze iets nuttigs hadden om te veranderen":

Version 1.0.2.4, 24Dec1999 Bugfix:

• Bugfix: Protection fault introduced in 1.0.2.3
• Improved support for new Sony/HP Writers.

Downloaden mag hier. (1400kB)

vsmb@superweb.nl" rel="external">ovs komt een linkje brengen naar deze page waar de nieuwe Arctic Circle Athlon cooler geshowed wordt. Ding ziet er bruut uit:

The AMD Athlon Arctic Circle Includes:

Modified and tested HP TurboCooler.

Heatsinks and 3M thermal tape for CPU cache chip cooling.

Aluminum backplate to enhance cartridge rigidity and insure an optimum processor to heatsink interface.

Premium alloy steel hex head mounting hardware and spacers to mount cooler with or without Athlon's ABS plastic back case.

4-pin pass-through connector. All wire connections soldered and insulated with 3M heat shrink tubing.

Core cleaning pads and high-quality T-grease.

Arctic Circle Features:

Unique shape and moderate size does not interfere with memory slots or ATX motherboard power supply connectors..

100 watts of heat dissipation.

Exclusive dual-vortex airflow cools the CPU cache chips and motherboard chipset.

Lowest noise level of any high-performance cooler.

Ook bij AnandTech, een review van de plastic gekleurde ColorCase Yuri/Venus ATX Mid Tower. Niet iedereen zal hem even mooi vinden, hij werkt echter wel prima:

At last we have manufacturer that has learned that it takes more than good looks to win over customers. ColorCase has taken their years of experience and invested it in producing a case that looks good without dropping the ball on quality.

While the iMac translucent style may not appeal to everyone, there is no doubt that the Yuri and Venus are solid cases. If you've wanted an iMac, but can't stand the MacOS, ColorCase has the solution for the PC world.

Now if only someone would take a look at Apple's G3 case and its motherboard tray that drops down by releasing a single lever - even while the system is running. Now that is some true innovation from Apple.

Gisteren op Kerstavond is er bij AnandTech nog snel een review verschenen van de Creative Webcam Go. Dit apparaat kan gebruikt worden als een Webcam of als Portable Camera.

Since the WebCam can do two different things, we tested the camera as a WebCam and as a portable still camera. Since I run a home-based business, I had some use for this camera. I had set up a video conference meeting with a developer I work with. We tried out NetMeeting, and ICUII. We concentrated on ICUII, due to Netmeetings stubborness behind firewalls The camera added a whole new perspective to our meeting; being able to look at someone while carrying on a conversation adds more than you might think. The WebCam has a focus option on the lens that helped getting the perfect picture for the distance from the cam to the object/person. The camera uses USB to connect to your PC, making it a snap to setup. Overall, I found the image quality to be as good as any other camera, if not a bit better.

Remenic schrijft: "Microsoft dacht grappig te zijn met hun verhaaltje over hoe je Linux weg kan halen? Nou wij linux die-hards kunnen net zo gaan spelen! Hier lees je het omgekeerde: hoe wis je Windows om 't vervolgens te vervangen door Linux? Eat that Micro$oft!":

Check deze link..